5/21/19

`Typography Resources`

Links to articles and videos about: How-to, Font Management, Selecting & Pairing Type, History of Type, Classification, Anatomy, Identification, Education, Conferences, Literature, Online Resources, Who to Follow

Software How-to Links to various tutorials and sources of information on how to style, modify, and work with type: i.e., typography

Adobe Photoshop

18 Hidden Tips About Type Tool: 18 Hidden Tips About Type Tool

Photoshop tutorial from Tutvid.com. More about manipulating text than about setting it, but very informative (Don’t use the “faux” bold or italic icons in the Character panel!)
Create Type: Create Type

Tutorial with illustrations; type layers, point & paragraph type
10 Tips for Great Type in Photoshop: 10 Tips for Great Type in Photoshop

Using the Glyphs palette in Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop Elements

Using the Text Tool: Using the Text Tool

Adobe Photoshop Elements tutorial with illustrations.

Affinity Designer

Artistic Text Tool: Steve Elliott

Artistic Text Tool

For use on a painting done in Procreate | kerning on a path | for iPad
Advanced Typography: Advanced Typography

OpenType layout features | for iPad
Frame Text Tool: Frame Text Tool

Basic text setting in Affinity Designer | for iPad
Art Text Tool for iPad: Art Text Tool for iPad

Adding scalable decorative text to your design.
Quick Tip: Flip Text on a Curve: Tobias Steiner | FrameHaus

Quick Tip: Flip Text on a Curve

Quick tip to gain better control of your text on path!
Create an Offset Path: Jenco Designs

Create an Offset Path

Outlines as separate objects
Importing Fonts: Importing Fonts

Installing fonts from the cloud
Layer Effects: Layer Effects

Adding layer effects nondestructively.

Adobe Illustrator

Type on a Path: Teela Cunningham

Type on a Path

How to type on a path in Illustrator.
Vintage Effect for Text: SpoonGraphics

Vintage Effect for Text

Highly illustrated tutorial.
Special Characters & OpenType Layout Features: Special Characters & OpenType Layout Features

Including contextual pop-up for selected character, and the Glyphs panel | tutorial with illustrations.
Create a Hatched Drop-shadow Effect: Teela Cunningham

Create a Hatched Drop-shadow Effect

One-off text effect (as shapes, not editable text).
How to Create Custom Type: Eric Vasquez

How to Create Custom Type

Advantages of commercial fonts | OpenType features | Editable text.
How to Create Decorative Text: Hikeart

How to Create Decorative Text

Basic conversion of text to shapes & then decorating them.
Add Text to Your Designs: Add Text to Your Designs

Tutorial with embedded videos & sample files | Add a line of text, or a paragraph of text, then format the text, place it on a path, and reshape it.
How to Create Custom Type Designs: Spoon Graphics

How to Create Custom Type Designs

Customizing type from an existing font & using OpenType layout features (Complementary to the “vintage effects” video).

Microsoft Office

Applying Existing Styles: Applying Existing Styles

Using quick styles.
Editing or Creating New Styles: Editing or Creating New Styles

Tutorial page with illustrations.
Changing the Look of the Text: Changing the Look of the Text

Basic text manipulation
OpenType Ligatures in Office 2010: OpenType Ligatures in Office 2010

Tutorial on using ligatures and other OpenType layout features.
How can I use different numerals in Microsoft Word?: How can I use different numerals in Microsoft Word?

Explanation of where to find OpenType layout features, such as old-style figures and ligatures.

Other

Design Your Own Fonts: From Paper to Screen: Natanael Gama

Design Your Own Fonts: From Paper to Screen

Skillshare class using paper & Glyphs app | intro only: register for free trial in order to see class.

Non-Latin Typefaces

Seven rules for perfect Japanese typography: Eiko Nagase

Seven rules for perfect Japanese typography
Creating a Chinese Font: Nikhil Sonnad

Creating a Chinese Font

The Long, Incredibly Torturous and Fascinating Process of Creating a Chinese Font.
Interview with Aleksandra Samulenkova: Interview with Aleksandra Samulenkova

Interview with Aleksandra Samulenkova about her workshop on designing Cyrillic typefaces.
Interview with Arabic type designer Dr. Mamoun Sakkal: Interview with Arabic type designer Dr. Mamoun Sakkal

Design of the Shilia typeface, a streamlined, geometric typeface designed to work with sans serif Latin typefaces.

Font Management Links to various useful applications for managing your font library

PopChar (Windows): PopChar (Windows)

Application for viewing and accessing all the characters in a font.
PopChar (Mac): PopChar (Mac)

Application for viewing and accessing all the characters in a font.
Suitcase Fusion: Suitcase Fusion

Powerful commercial font-management application.
NexusFont: NexusFont

Free font-management application for Windows
FontBase: FontBase

Free font-management application for Mac, Windows & Linux.
RightFont App: RightFont App

Commercial font-management application for Mac
Typeface 2: Typeface 2

Commercial font-management application for Mac.
AnyFont: AnyFont

Inexpensive application for installing fonts on iOS devices.
Ultra Character Map: Ultra Character Map

Commercial character-map application for finding glyphs and comparing typefaces for Mac.

Selecting & Pairing Type These links give some recommendations on how to choose type families that work well together.

Chart of “Font Moods”

Chart of “Font Moods”

Chart of “font moods,” different categories of typeface and words describing the moods they might express or evoke.

(Note: the typeface shown as an example of “Modern Serif” is actually Trajan, Carol Twombly’s digital version of the letters on the Trajan column in ancient Rome: the ultimate old-style type.)

Questions to Consider when Choosing Type

Questions to Consider when Choosing Type

Basic questions to consider when choosing type, primarily for the web, includes examples.

Interview with Jessica Morla | Type Selection

Interview with Jessica Morla | Type Selection

Article/interview on San Francisco graphic designer and AIGA medalist Jessica Morla, focusing on her innovative use of type. With illustrations from the Letterform Archive’s collection.

Guide to Font Styles: Slab Serifs

Guide to Font Styles: Slab Serifs

Comparison of seven slab-serif type families sold by Monotype, by the former typographic director of ITC.

Guide to Font Styles: Old Style Typefaces

Guide to Font Styles: Old Style Typefaces

Comparison of seven old-style type families sold by Monotype, by the former typographic director of ITC.

10 Tips for Great Type in Photoshop

10 Tips for Great Type in Photoshop

A how-to on using the Glyphs palette in Photoshop, although one of the ten tips is about choosing type.

The Best Brochure Fonts

The Best Brochure Fonts

Choosing and using typefaces for brochures.

FontJoy

FontJoy

Help for pairing fonts.

FontPair

FontPair

Helps you pair fonts.

TypIO

TypIO

Another site for pairing fonts.

History of Type These are some useful resources for learning the history of type.

History of European Calligraphy: International Exhibition of Calligraphy

History of European Calligraphy

About the origins of writing and the development of the Latin alphabet: the precursor to Western type.
Related Type Families: Peter Bil’ak

Related Type Families

Thoughtful short article on the development of complementary serif and sans serif type families, as well as typefaces for different scripts designed to work together in multilingual typography. Originally part of a type specimen booklet from Typotheque foundry.
Demystifying the Copperplate/Spencerian Script Enigma: Dr. Joseph Vitolo

Demystifying the Copperplate/Spencerian Script Enigma

Article on the history of the Copperplate and Spencerian styles of handwriting, and the differences between them.
Elegant Script: Spencerian and Copperplate Roundhand: Jake Rainis

Elegant Script: Spencerian and Copperplate Roundhand

Long blog post on Spencerian and Copperplate scripts, and the distinctions in letter form between them.
Early Typographers: Design Is History

Early Typographers

Personal website on the history of design and type.
Early Evolution of Roman Letters 1: Allan Haley

Early Evolution of Roman Letters 1

Brief overview of ancient Roman writing styles from square capitals to cursive.
Dot-font: Talking about Fonts: John D. Berry

Dot-font: Talking about Fonts

Links to free download of the text of this book of essays about type and its history.

Classification These are sources and explanations of how type can be classified (a perennially unsettled subject).

Fontology: Type Classifications: Allan Haley

Fontology: Type Classifications

Overview of a traditional classification system for Latin typefaces.
TypeTalk: Type Classifications: Ilene Strizver

TypeTalk: Type Classifications

Overview of a traditional classification system for Latin typefaces.
I Love Typography: Who Shot the Serif?: John Boardley

I Love Typography: Who Shot the Serif?

Introduction to world of serifs.
I Love Typography: Return of the Serif: John Boardley

I Love Typography: Return of the Serif

Identifying different styles of serif. Part 2 of above.
Italic Subtleties: Toshi Omagari

Italic Subtleties

Cogent explanation of italic styles and fake-italic styling.
Type Classification: Design is History

Type Classification

Overview of traditional classification of Latin typefaces.

Anatomy Here are some links to information about the anatomy of letter forms, both in the Latin alphabet and in other writing systems.

Anatomy of a Typeface: Typedia

Anatomy of a Typeface

Learn about the anatomy of a typeface.
The A-z of Typographic Terms: Fontsmith

The A-z of Typographic Terms

Infographic that lists all the type vocabulary.
The Only Font Anatomy Design Guide You’ll Ever Need: Marc Schenker

The Only Font Anatomy Design Guide You’ll Ever Need

Basic explanation of the parts of Latin letters, with individual illustrations.
Anatomy of a Character: Ilene Strizver

Anatomy of a Character

Definitions of terms for describing Latin letter forms, by the former typographic director of ITC.
A Visual Guide to the Anatomy of Typography: Orana Velarde

A Visual Guide to the Anatomy of Typography

Elements of Latin letters, also type styles & spacing.
Arabic Type Anatomy: Azza Alameddine

Arabic Type Anatomy

Well-illustrated article on type design in the Arabic script.
Arabic Type Anatomy & Typographic Terms: 29LT Blog

Arabic Type Anatomy & Typographic Terms

Article that tackles the problem of giving typographic terms to Arabic type and typography.
Devanagari Type Anatomy: Pooja Saxena

Devanagari Type Anatomy

Well-illustrated article on type design in the Devanagari script used for several languages in India.

Identification There is no substitute for knowing and recognizing typefaces, but these are resources that can help you identify them.

Identifont: Identifont

Search for fonts based on categories: appearance, name, similarity, picture or symbol, designer or publisher.
WhatTheFont: WhatTheFont

MyFonts’ browser tool for identifying typefaces by uploading an image (PNG or JPEG)
WhatTheFont | iOS app: WhatTheFont | iOS app

MyFonts’ iOS tool for identifying typefaces by uploading an image (PNG or JPEG)
Font Matcherator: Font Matcherator

Fontspring’s tool for identifying typefaces by uploading an image or a URL.
What Font Is…: What Font Is…

Tool for identifying typefaces by uploading an image or a URL. Requires download.

Education These are a few of the educational programs available in typography, or art and design schools that offer typography. Typography (using type) should be part of any course of study in graphic design, though it isn’t always.

University of Reading

University of Reading

Department of Typography & Graphic Communication |One of the major typography programs to obtain a Master's degree in Typeface Design

KABK (Royal Academy of Art)

KABK (Royal Academy of Art)

The Hague, Netherlands | Very prestigious art and design program.

School of Visual Arts

School of Visual Arts

Undergraduate and Continuing Education courses in graphic design. Draws on the professional talent of New York City.

Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography

Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography

At, though not technically part of, the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California

“Created to serve as a home, and catalyst, for the enhanced study of typography and letterform design, the Center serves as an educational forum, design laboratory, research center, and archive.”

Cooper Union (The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art)